How to Avoid IT Pitfalls When Buying Physician Practices

When hospitals first began buying physician practices, their IT acumen wasn’t an issue – most were just using basic systems. And the acquisitions happened so infrequently that management would just tell IT staff, “Okay, go see what they’ve got.”

Due diligence wasn’t very involved, recalls Kent Gray, vice president at Impact Advisors, a consulting firm. For example, a physician would retire, and a hospital would just assume ownership of the practice without understanding the practice’s competitors or the quality of the acquired staff.